‘New deepwater projects must surpass Egina FPSO integration’

New deepwater projects must set new records beyond in-country integration of the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Executive Secretary (ES), Simbi Wabote, has said.

He spoke at the reception for the Total Upstream Nigeria’s Egina FPSO at the SHI-MCI, LADOL yard in Lagos.

He said the Board was working with operating companies and project promoters to ensure that new projects, such as the Bonga Southwest and Zabazaba deep water projects surpassed the Nigerian Content levels attained on the Egina project.

Wabote, represented by the NCDMB General Manager, Projects and Operations Division, Paul Zuhumben, stressed the need for close collaboration among stakeholders, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to ensure that new deepwater projects are developed speedily.

“This is the beginning. We know the Zabazaba is coming with an FPSO. We have made it mandatory on forthcoming major projects that the Egina project will be used as a minimum. It means we are going to dream big and fabricate and integrate more modules in-country.”

Commending Total on the arrival of Egina project, the ES maintained that the feat was attained because of the support of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and the Board’s strategic implementation of the Nigerian Content Act and insistence on the maximisation of existing capacities and development of new capabilities.